The Mom Stop: Royal mom stays radiant

Tuesday

When Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge stepped out of St. Mary’s hospital in London last week — only seven hours after giving birth to her third child — she looked radiant.

The Duchess, (sometimes known as the former Kate Middleton, to those of us who follow the British royals), was positively glowing. Her hair was perfect, looking as if she just stepped out of a salon. Her makeup was on point. Her red dress with white Peter Pan collar echoed the outfit that Diana wore when she left the hospital with Prince Harry. And the Duchess was in heels.

Seven hours after giving birth to my third kid, I’m not sure I had even gotten out of the hospital bed, let alone put on normal clothes. It would be weeks, if not months, before I put on a pair of high heels again.

Seven hours after giving childbirth, I did have on makeup, but that’s only because I took a shower, did my hair and my makeup while in the bitter pains of contractions during labor. There was no rushing around, speeding to the hospital while in labor for me — I took a long, hot shower and make sure my hair and makeup were done, because I knew I wanted it to look somewhat presentable in pictures immediately after the baby was born. Not that that lasted long.

Other moms know what I’m talking about.

Seven hours after childbirth with my third kid, I’m fairly certain that my hair was in a messy tangle of a top knot. My makeup, which probably looked pretty good walking into the hospital, was no doubt smeared with sweat, my mascara and eyeliner smudged in black raccoon streaks from those first few happy tears after the birth.

In those exhausted, dreary first few hours and days post-partum, your face gets puffy and swollen. You basically have to waddle around after childbirth, wearing the equivalent of an adult diaper for the days that follow. And after the first sleepless night, dark circles under the eyes often form, sometimes taking months to go away — about as long as it takes for the baby to start regularly sleeping through the night.

I can’t imagine the recovery following a C-section.

All I wanted to do after giving birth — besides stare at my baby and relish in that newborn smell — was to eat something greasy and take a long nap.

In comparison to how most new moms look and feel walking out of the hospital after childbirth, the Duchess looked like she had walked off the pages of a motherhood magazine. And more than likely, she probably had help — a full staff of hair stylists, makeup artists and stylists to help her get ready for her (and her newborn baby’s) big debut. If the maternity wings at hospital kept a full-service salon or spa on their floor, I’m sure they’d do pretty well.

But what we don’t know is how the Duchess was feeling. She was probably just as exhausted, overwhelmed, and likely felt swollen or puffy, the way most of us have felt following childbirth. She was probably worried about not falling over in those heels, especially with baby in tow in front of so many cameras.

And, despite her perfect façade, she probably felt like a lot of us have following childbirth. Who knows, after piling into that SUV, her husband Prince William at the wheel, who’s to say she didn’t go home, climb into her favorite comfy pajamas, stuff her face with her favorite comfort foods and fall asleep for a (semi-uninterrupted) nap?

The Duchess of Cambridge is an ideal to look up to. But nobody is perfect — especially after birth.— Lydia Seabol Avant writes The Mom Stop for The Tuscaloosa News in Alabama. Reach her at lydia.seabolavant@tuscaloosanews.com.

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